Once Upon a Birthday

One fine morning, on the 1st of April, many years back, in Abah's bedroom:

"Abah, Happy Birthday! Nah present." I said while handing over an envelope to Abah. 

The envelope contained a piece of a badly-drawn map. It's the layout of our house with arrows leading to the location where I hid his present.  Rahsia konon-kononnya. Abah smiled and followed the map, which took him in circles, in and out of bedrooms, only to find another map. I, who'd been tailing behind him all the time, giggled and said, "Okay okay janji kali ni betul-betul ada."

The second map took him back to his bedroom. Teehehehehe. I hid his present somewhere in his wardrobe, rasanyalah, can't remember the exact location because this took place many-many years ago. 

Alah. Chocolate bar aje pun.

I can't remember what he said when he finally found his present or if he even ate the chocolate because as far as I remember, dia tak suka manis-manis. 

Oh well.

Seeing him going around the house trying to figure out that map was enough to make me happy. Not sure if it made him happy but it sure made my day. =)

*****************************

That was years ago. When I still had him by my side. 

He would've turned 74 this year. 

Al-faatihah. 

Back row: Bancik, Abangah and Umar, Banglang
Front row: Yours truly, Kakngah with Rasydan, Abah, Mak, Nenek, Shafiq

p/s: Brothers, I can see your collarbones. Good ol days eh? =P